Should Italy Consider Hiring Ancelotti?
Earlier today Bayern Munich relieved coach Carlo Ancelotti of his duties after he coached the team for a little over a season. Ancelotti led Bayern to the Bundesliga title last season but after getting overrun in Paris yesterday against PSG, 3-0, his time was up in Bavaria. Ancelotti is regarded by many in Europe as one of the best managers in the game and it's likely that he will be on the market for long if he makes himself available. The rumor mill has already begun to churn with his former club, Milan, along with others being mentioned. However, I'd like to see Ancelotti go in a direction that he hasn't before and that is coaching a national team; in particular, Italy. With the World Cup just around the corner it's unlikely that Italy would make a change but I'd like to explore the possibility.
To begin, as mentioned earlier, Ancelotti is regarded around Europe as one of the best managers around. Oftentimes, whatever team Ancelotti has gotten his hands on has turned to gold. He has won plenty of trophies all around Europe in his managerial career which began at Reggiana in 1995. Ancelotti made stops at Parma and Juventus before really distinguishing himself when he arrived at Milan in November 2001.
During his time at Milan which lasted until May 2009, Ancelotti won 238 games and plenty of silverware coaching the Rossoneri. Ancelotti won one Serie A title, 2 UEFA Champions League titles, one Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italian, two UEFA Super Cups, and one FIFA Club World Cup in just under eight full seasons.
After Milan, Carlo moved on to Chelsea where he won a Premier League title, an FA cup, and a Community Shield. Next move for Ancelotti was to France where after taking PSG over in December 2011 he won the Ligue 1 title the following season. Next stop was Real Madrid where in two seasons Ancelotti led Real to a La Liga title, another Champions League crown, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. This brings us to Carlo's last stop of Bayern where he won the Bundesliga title in his only full stop there.
If Italy were to hire Ancelotti they would be bringing in a coach with one of the most well stocked trophy cases in the history of Europe. His three Champions League titles are the most for any coach and his success has followed him around Europe. Ancelotti has won trophies in each of the Top 5 European leagues (Italy, England, Spain, Germany, and France).
Carlo would also bring valuable experience to an Italian team that is in a sort of transitional period. Currently, Italy have a mix of veteran players and some talented youngsters but not many players in their prime. Ancelotti, with his winning pedigree, would instantly have the respect and ears of both veterans and youngsters alike.
Ancelotti would bring his winning mentality to an Italian national team (which itself has a history of winning) that hasn't had much success at the World Cup since their 2006 triumph. Carlo has proven himself to be a big game manager by winning the Champions League three times. The Champions League is the club competition most similar in format to a World Cup with group stages that are followed by tournament style knockout stages. Italy will have to qualify for the World Cup in a home-and -home playoff come November and there aren't many around who know how to manage this type of situation better than Carlo thanks to this extensive Champions League experience.
Another reason that Ancelotti could be good for Italy is because of the tactical flexibility that he demonstrated throughout his career. Italy aren't the strongest team in Europe these days and against the best teams they have to be tactically flexible to be able to have a chance to win. This is something that current manager Gian Piero Ventura hasn't seemed inclined to do. He went into their decisive qualifier against Spain in Madrid with a strategy that was all wrong. The disastrous defeat sealed their fate of having to participate in November's qualifying playoff to get to the World Cup. Despite only losing two games under Ventura in 12 games, Italy have often looked shaky under his leadership and tactics. This something that I think Carlo could alleviate with his tactical flexibility.
Going along with this lack of tactical flexibility is the fact that Ventura continues to not call up Napoli's Jorginho. Jorginho has been in great form but hasn't gotten a call because his position doesn't exist in Ventura's Italy according to the coach. There's no telling who Ancelotti would call up but one would think because of his flexibility, in form players like Jorginho would have a better chance at a call up.
To begin, as mentioned earlier, Ancelotti is regarded around Europe as one of the best managers around. Oftentimes, whatever team Ancelotti has gotten his hands on has turned to gold. He has won plenty of trophies all around Europe in his managerial career which began at Reggiana in 1995. Ancelotti made stops at Parma and Juventus before really distinguishing himself when he arrived at Milan in November 2001.
During his time at Milan which lasted until May 2009, Ancelotti won 238 games and plenty of silverware coaching the Rossoneri. Ancelotti won one Serie A title, 2 UEFA Champions League titles, one Coppa Italia, one Supercoppa Italian, two UEFA Super Cups, and one FIFA Club World Cup in just under eight full seasons.
After Milan, Carlo moved on to Chelsea where he won a Premier League title, an FA cup, and a Community Shield. Next move for Ancelotti was to France where after taking PSG over in December 2011 he won the Ligue 1 title the following season. Next stop was Real Madrid where in two seasons Ancelotti led Real to a La Liga title, another Champions League crown, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. This brings us to Carlo's last stop of Bayern where he won the Bundesliga title in his only full stop there.
If Italy were to hire Ancelotti they would be bringing in a coach with one of the most well stocked trophy cases in the history of Europe. His three Champions League titles are the most for any coach and his success has followed him around Europe. Ancelotti has won trophies in each of the Top 5 European leagues (Italy, England, Spain, Germany, and France).
Carlo would also bring valuable experience to an Italian team that is in a sort of transitional period. Currently, Italy have a mix of veteran players and some talented youngsters but not many players in their prime. Ancelotti, with his winning pedigree, would instantly have the respect and ears of both veterans and youngsters alike.
Ancelotti would bring his winning mentality to an Italian national team (which itself has a history of winning) that hasn't had much success at the World Cup since their 2006 triumph. Carlo has proven himself to be a big game manager by winning the Champions League three times. The Champions League is the club competition most similar in format to a World Cup with group stages that are followed by tournament style knockout stages. Italy will have to qualify for the World Cup in a home-and -home playoff come November and there aren't many around who know how to manage this type of situation better than Carlo thanks to this extensive Champions League experience.
Another reason that Ancelotti could be good for Italy is because of the tactical flexibility that he demonstrated throughout his career. Italy aren't the strongest team in Europe these days and against the best teams they have to be tactically flexible to be able to have a chance to win. This is something that current manager Gian Piero Ventura hasn't seemed inclined to do. He went into their decisive qualifier against Spain in Madrid with a strategy that was all wrong. The disastrous defeat sealed their fate of having to participate in November's qualifying playoff to get to the World Cup. Despite only losing two games under Ventura in 12 games, Italy have often looked shaky under his leadership and tactics. This something that I think Carlo could alleviate with his tactical flexibility.
Going along with this lack of tactical flexibility is the fact that Ventura continues to not call up Napoli's Jorginho. Jorginho has been in great form but hasn't gotten a call because his position doesn't exist in Ventura's Italy according to the coach. There's no telling who Ancelotti would call up but one would think because of his flexibility, in form players like Jorginho would have a better chance at a call up.
The biggest problem to Italy trying to bring in Ancelotti at this point in time is that it's so late into the qualifying cycle. They will complete their qualifying group in just over a week and the qualifying playoff follows about a month after that. It's a very short time frame for a coach to take over a national team, especially one who hasn't coached one before. Unlike coaching a club team which a coach trains with everyday; a national team coach has limited time with his players even when he coaches through a full qualifying cycle.
Meanwhile, Ventura has been coaching Italy for about a year and a half and recently signed a contract extension until 2020. He has gotten to know the players and the players have gotten to know him in that time. The same wouldn't before afforded to Ancelotti before November's playoff qualifier. Ventura was also brought in to nurture Italy's young talent and he has worked plenty of it into the mix.
Because of the short time frame I don't see Italy making a move for Ancelotti now even though it is a very intriguing idea. However, depending on how the rest of qualifying and World Cup go for the Azzurri it could be likely that Ventura doesn't get to see out his contract. If this turns out to be the case I would implore the FIGC to give Carlo a call to be Italy's next coach.
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